Safety-catch for firearms.



No. 712,282. Patented Oct. 28, I902.

C. P. FAY & W. FERGUSON. SAFETY CATCH FOR FIREARMS.

(Application filed July 22, 1901.)

(No Model.)

WILLIAM FERGUSON, citizens of NHED STATES farnNr Fries.

CHARLES P. FA'Y AND WILLIAM FERGUSON, OF CHICOPEE FALLS, MASSA- CHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO STEVENS ARMS d: TOOL COMPANY, OF. CHlCOPEE FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION.

SEPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.

sArerY oAToH roe FiREARMS.

AppligfQ-tion filed July 22, 1901. Serial No. 69,217. (No model!) 712,282, dated October 28,1902.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, CHARLES P. FAY and the United States of America, residing at Chicopee Falls, in the county of Hampdcn and State of Messachusetts, haveinvented new antl useful Improvements in Safety-Catches for Firearms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to firearms, and has for its object the provision of a safety-catch for preventing the release of the hammer after the latter has been brought to a full-cock until said catch has been operated by the thumb and held inactive until after the trignor has been pressed to release the hammer; and with this object in view the invention consists in the provision of a sliding member located under the upper tang of the frame of the arm and adapted to normally engage in a notch in the rear side of the hammer when the latter is brought to full-cock, all as hereinafter described, and clearly defined in the claim,

In the drawings forming part of this application, Figure l is a side elevation, partly in section, of an arm having our invention applied thereto; and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the sliding member constituting the safetycatch.

Referring to the drawings, a indicates the frame, in which thehammerb is pivotally supported, as at o.

(t is the trigger, the arm being provided with the usual mainspring e for actuating the hammer. The frame of the arm is provided with the usual upper and lower tangs f and g.

Located under the tangf there is a sliding, member it, one end of which is narrowed down relative to the body thereof, as shown in Fig. 2, whereby it is adapted to receive a coiled spring '2', fitting on said narrowed-down end of the member 71., between the shoulder on the latter and a hos'sj on the tang, through a hole in which the end 0t said narroweddown part passes freely. The said narroweddown end of the member It is downwardly curved relative to the rest of the piece to permit the free action of the spring 1', while the member is itself held closely in contact with her h to permit the arms which may the under side of that part of the frame on which it is supported. The forward end of said member his downwardly curved and normally is held by the spring 2' in a position to intercept the path of the rcarmost portion of the hammer when the latter is brought to cooking position. In this portion of the hammer there is provided a notch 7.; of such form that the said curved end of the member it may engage therewith and prevontthe operation of the hammer by the mainspringe when the trigger is pulled. A slot Z is located in the tangfdirectly overthe member 7t, through which a screw end passes, and has a threaded engagement with a hole a in said member, which is shown clearly in Fig. of the draw ings. Preferably the head of the screw in. is narrowed to prevent the thumb from slipping when it is desired to operate the safety-catch. By turning up the sorewnn more or less resistance to movement may be imparted to the member 7L, and by turning, it up very tightly said member may be held in a retracted position permanently.

By means of the catch above described it willbe seen that after the arm is cocked it is held in that position not only by the engagement thereof with the trigger, but also hecause of the engagement of the end of the catch with the notch in in the hammer, thus rendering necessary the withdrawal of the member- 7t from engagement with. the hammer by the thumb before pressure on the trigger will release the hammer to tire the arm.

The location of the screw m is sufficiently far back of the curved-down end of the memlatter to spring freely downward as the hammer strikes the end thereof in cooking operation' 'lheherein-described construction provides go a simple and etrective safety-catch for firehe used or not,'as desired, and which when used is of such construction as to require certain mental concentration on the part of the user owing to the double operation required in order to tire the armthat is, the operation of the safety-catch by the thumb and the operation. of the trigger by the linger.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure byLetters Pat- 1 whereby said catch may be opemted, m ent of the United States, 58- whereby it may be drawn against the frame In a firearm of the class described, a hammore or less, substanfiially as described. mer, a trigger, a safet -catch, a-Spring on the 5 letter normally holding said catch in position to engage the hammer when the latter is brdughh-to cocking position, a screw slidable Witnesses: in a slot in the frame of the arm and hav- K. I. OLEMONS, ing a threaded engagemeue 'with said catch, WM. H. CHAPEN. 

